Four Boom men arrested following fight with policeman
An incident on Friday in Burrell Boom allegedly sparked by the unwanted advances by a Belize City man and his police corporal companion led to a shot being fired and a vehicle overturned. Four men from Boom have been charged with attempted murder and another with common assault. Villagers are sending a petition to the Minister of National Security Jorge Espat denouncing the behavior of the officer and asking him to take the matter into consideration. The police Criminal Investigations Branch says they have no evidence that their officer actually touched the young woman but believe he did participate in the fight that ensued. News Five was in Burrell Boom this afternoon.
Ashton Flowers, Brother
“They were under the influence of alcohol and thing and were going on in quite a nasty way to be some law men, at least from what I see.”
Today, the Flowers family of Burrell Boom Village is upset about an incident that involved one sister being assaulted and a brother who tried to help, only to wind up in police custody. According to eighteen year old Joyce Flowers, who did not want to appear on camera, she and her sister had just entered the bar upstairs of Melonie’s Grocery and Hardware when she was first approached by a man, whom she later identified as one Wellington Metzen.
Joyce Flowers
“They come down the steps and one of them pass and they touch me and when I turn around, he push out his tongue after me and I just turn back. Then a next one pass and he touch me again and I turn around and tell him what the “f” you touch me for? Then I walk down the steps the same time and I meet my brother and I told him.”
According to Ashton Flowers, who was at the bar, at the time of the incident, his brother, Curtis then walked up to the men to tell them to stop bothering his sister. It is then, Flowers says they found out that one of the men was a policeman.
Ashton Flowers
“He tell them, I understand that you guys were touching up my sister and I no like that, so one of them, a short fellow said, we are the police and we could do what we want. Well, he say, you can’t be touching her how you guys want and they start to go off and then they show up themselves and push up their chests like they are bad.”
Flowers says that shortly afterwards, things turned ugly when the man, claiming to be a police officer, threatened his brother.
Ashton Flowers
“You think you guys are bad men, we could go for our gun and for our set. So my brother said, alright, so that is what you want, well we could war it out right here cause he tell him that he could go for the gun and come back right here. Well he tell him, if it’s so, you no going nowhere and then the fight really start.”
According to C.I.B., their investigations reveal that the policeman identified as one P.C. Jones Valerio, did not assault Flowers’ sister but was involved in the fight that followed.
Ashton Flowers
“Then the fight really start. Well I didn’t really see what went on after that because the crowd came down so I couldn’t really see what went on.”
Q: “Did they beat up one another?
Ashton Flowers
“As far as I saw hands were throwing about the place, but I didn’t really see what went on because a big crowd was out there the same way.”
Police say, Metzen along with Darwin Ally, Michael Lewis, all laborers of Belize City then managed to get away by jumping inside their car but police say Flowers in the company of Harrison Nicholson, Christopher Vernon and Stanton Gillett gave chase. It is then, the police say, Flowers and his friends fired a shot at the fleeing car. A short distance away, the car overturned but no one was seriously injured. Today police say they have charged Flowers, Nicholson, Vernon and Gillett, all from Burrell Boom with three counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to attempt murder and harm. As for Metzen, the man accused of hassling Joyce Flowers, he has been charged with common assault. No charges have been brought against P.C. Valerio.
Flowers, Nicholson, Vernon and Gillett were offered bail in the amount of three thousand dollars each plus one surety of the same amount. As of news time none of the men had yet met bail. They are scheduled to reappear in court on February eleventh. C.I.B. tells News Five that so far the weapon reportedly used in the shooting has not been found. They are also appealing to villagers who have information on the incident to please come forward.
